It's a Week Before Your Third Birthday

 

Dear Joanie,

       Yes, you are about to be three (3) years old in just one week. Looking back over all the pictures and the videos your mom and dad have posted, I know it's been quite a year for you.  I've seen you at your pre-school with all your classmates. I've watched you twirl in your dance class, play at the beach, play in the park, eat chocolate ice cream, make some food for your daddy, and visit your grandparents, your aunts and uncles and cousins. You grow in strength and beauty and confidence every day and you face your life head on--running, jumping, spinning. 

    It's been a lovely and mostly quiet year for your Great Grandpa Dougie and me as well. In our own lives, we enjoy our daily activities: for me, walking Shelby Poodle, dancing, reading; for Dougie, reading, play reading, and book clubs. Dougie's health is the same; he manages the blood disorders with medication, and, although he struggles a lot finding the words he want when he's talking, that condition has gotten any worse.

    We had a really cold and snowy winter in Colorado, and that was followed by rain and more rain in May.  Today, it's sunny and everyone in Boulder is outside, running, biking, skateboarding, walking, playing. Boulder is an active town!

    The world of 2022-2023 offered both hope and worries. Our COVID pandemic is officially over. Hardly anyone wears masks anymore. People are still getting COVID, but the numbers have dwindled. When the pandemic was declared over, it was announced that over one million people in the U.S. had died of COVID. Our lives are pretty much back to normal, but we won't go back to the way we lived before the pandemic. Those days are gone. Working from home, for an example, has become a way of life for many people, especially parents.  We have concerns about climate change, gun violence, and the 2024 presidential election. But we are also filled with hope for our future and, most of all, for your future. 

    In Volume 4 of letters to Joanie, I'll start telling you more about my own life--all 84 years of it. I have a lot of stories; I've lived a long time.

    Happy third birthday, Joanie. And many happy returns of the day!

Love,

GG Katie